PORRES, Martín de, Blessed. - Dominican lay brother, b. in Lima on 9 Dec. 1579, d. there on 3 Nov. 1639.

A black mulatto, the bl. M. was the son of a noble Spanish knight and a Mexican woman. At the age of fifteen he entered the convent of the Holy Rosary in Lima as a tertiary or "donado" and was later accepted as a lay brother (1603). He was an example to his confreres through his very deep humility and was venerated by the people for his heroic charity toward the poor and the sick, for whom he built a small hospital. He was favored with special mystical graces (ecstasies and raptures), and numerous extraordinary events are related of him. He was beatified by Gregory XVI on 8 Aug. 1837, and the cause for his canonization is currently in progress. Devotion to the bl. M. is very lively in the Americas and among black Catholics. Feast on 5 Nov.

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Novembris, III, Brussels 1910, pp. 115 ff.; G. Melendez, Teneos verdaderos de los Indias, Rome 1861; P. Osende, Vida sobrenatural del b. M. de P., Lima 1917; S. Fumet, Le b. M. P., Paris 1933; I. Kearne, The life of b. M. d. P., Washington 1937; M. Grillet, Il b. M. de P., Rome 1940; L. M. Preber, The social implications in the work of b. M. de P., Washington 1941; A. Bedoya Villacorta, Fray M. de P. y su apostolado hipocrático, Lima 1949.

Piero Sannazzaro

@incollection{ec9_porres_martin_de_beato, author = {Sannazzaro, Piero}, title = {Porres, martín de, beato}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1773--1774}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/porres-martin-de-beato} }

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Porres, Martín de, Blessed

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